Why does heart shapes represent a heart

Since the human heart has long been associated with emotion and pleasure, the shape was eventually co-opted as a symbol of romance and medieval courtly love. It grew especially popular during the Renaissance , when it was used in religious art depicting the Sacred Heart of Christ and as one of the four suits in playing cards. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Historically speaking, the first known depiction of a heart shape, which can be vaguely considered as a symbol of love, was made in the s.

This miniature depicts a kneeling lover who offers his heart to a lady. This heart shape is similar to a pine cone, and it is held upside down not in the usual position of the heart shape that we know today. Researchers only assume that the pine cone-shaped object is a heart because its part held by the lover is hidden.

Another theory suggests that Pierre Vinken proposed it and Martin Kemp explains that the heart symbol is probably shaped according to the writings of Galen and Aristotle. These ancient philosophers described the human heart as an organ with three chambers and a dent in the middle. Vinken and Kemp believed that the heart shape was created during the Middle Ages by scientists who tried to visualize ancient texts. For example, Guido da Vigevano, a 14th-century Italian physicist, made some anatomical drawings of a heart that are very similar to the descriptions made by Aristotle.

These depictions, along with the presumption that the human heart is connected with emotion and pleasure, transformed the heart shape into a symbol of medieval love. This makes it the unlikeliest of origin stories, but the church's frequent use of the shape was probably a driving factor in popularizing it as a symbol of love. BY Matt Soniak. This story originally appeared in Subscribe to our Newsletter! Skip to Main Content Skip to Search.

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Dow Jones. By Marilyn Yalom.